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Law enforcement agencies throughout the region have been kept busy by the thieves, who blend in with the local citizenry and identify people making large cash withdrawals from their banks, Fort Lee Police Capt. Edward Young said.
They then employ various distraction tactics – puncturing tires, for instance – or simply follow victims to their homes and burglarize the residences when nobody’s home, Young said on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
To fight back, Detective Sgt. Cory Horton and Detective Nicole Busanic did some blending of their own.
Around lunchtime last Friday, their attention was drawn to a 2011 Ford Edge near a cluster of banks in the area of the Fort Lee Towne Center just off Lemoine Avenue near the George Washington Bridge.
A license-plate check on the Ford turned up the registration of a 2019 Honda, Young said.
The detectives also noticed four people "canvassing the area without visiting any businesses, nervously checking their surroundings," the captain said.
The quartet fit the description of thieves being sought by police in other towns, he said.
As the detectives watched, the group approached an elderly Bank of America customer and knocked on her front passenger window, Young said.
She motioned her hand back and forth, indicating "no," then pulled away, he said.
Thieves in such instances work together: One distracts the victim -- sometimes pretending to help with a problem -- and the others enter the targeted vehicle and remove purses, wallets and cash, Young noted.
After the previous attempt failed, he said, the group zeroed in on a driver who pulled up to the Bank of America drive-through ATM machine.
As she opened her window to make a withdrawal, one of the thieves jogged over to the passenger side of her car with a sharp object in his hand, then crouched down and slashed a rear tire, Young said.
For her protection, police stopped the woman as she drove south on Palisade Avenue, then told her what was happening, the captain said.
The fresh slash was roughly three inches long but didn't puncture the tire, he said.
Surveillance continued back at the Capital One and Chase banks a block up from the Bank of America branch. Similar theft attempts failed and the crew drove off -- with detectives behind them.
Police stopped the car at Stillwell Avenue and 11th Street, found unspecified evidence of diversion thefts and arrested the quartet, Young said,
Sent to the Bergen County Jail were Govanni Perez Vega, a 29-year-old Colombian national from Queens who works as a dishwasher, along with Jhoan Cortes Roa, a 31-year-old carpenter, Aracely Mora, 58, who's unemployed and self-employed cleaner Maria Babon, 40, all of the Oakland Gardens section of Queens.
Mora was also wanted on a warrant out of Atlantic City and had an ICE detainer placed on her.
The defendants were charged with various counts of conspiracy, hindering apprehension and possession of burglary tools. All remained held in the county lockup on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, fort Lee detectives continued working with colleagues at other law enforcement agencies who are investigating similar crimes tied to the quartet.
Young reminded citizens to "remain vigilant, always be aware of your surroundings and always report any suspicious behavior or activity immediately to law enforcement."
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